Package for sheet material articles



Dec. 16, 1969 A. VERSH 3,483,967

PACJKAGE FOR SHEET MATERIAL ARTICLES Filed Aug. 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 192 INVENTO'R Dec. 16, 1969 A. VERSH PACKAGE FOR SHEET MATERIAL ARTICLES2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 8, 1968 INVENTOR BY 2 I 11 fi w ATTGFZNEYS@Zam, W

States 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A package for containingsheet-material articles such as greeting cards and envelopes. Thearticles are arranged in a convenient stack within the package and theenvelopes have distinctive interior surfaces which are not visible fromthe exterior of the package. The package includes a container foraccommodating the stack of sheet-material articles. This container ofthe package carries a tab means which includes a portion overlying thestack of articles for releasably retaining the latter within thecontainer. This tab means has an exterior distinctive surface portionmatching that of the inner surface of the envelopes, so that in additionto releasably retaining the articles in the container the tab means alsoserves to indicate the distinctive inner surface of the envelopes. Thus,an envelope need not be removed from the package in order to indicatethe distinctive inner surface of the envelope.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to packages.

In particular, the present invention relates to packages forsheet-material articles such as greeting cards and envelopes.

It is conventional to arrange a stack of such sheet-material articleswithin a suitable container of the package. Also, it is customary toprovide the envelopes of the stack with a distinctive inner surface inthe form, for example, of a predetermined decorative pattern of a givencolor or combination of colors.

When the package is purchased, or when a purchase is made of part of thecontents of the package, the purchaser will wish to know the appearanceof the inner surface of the envelopes, and thus before a purchase ismade it is necessary to remove an envelope from the package so that aprospective purchaser can determine whether or not the distinctive innersurface of the envelope suits his particular purposes. This requirementof removing an envelope from the package before purchase of the latteror part of the contents thereof represents a considerable inconvenience.In the first place the stack within the package is disturbed, and itbecomes necessary to return the removed envelope to the stack. Theresult is that such packages soon become untidy and shop worn, so thatthey no longer have their initial fresh appearance and are difiicult tosell. It is to be noted that the problem cannot be satisfactorily solvedsimply by having on hand a loose envelope which is indicated to aprospective purchaser as being an envelope matching that in the interiorof the package. This latter procedure on the one hand involves a greatpossibility of error and on the other hand requires the purchaser toaccept on faith the assertion that the loose envelope matches thatwithin the package. Many purchasers simply will not believe suchstatements and will insist on breaking open a package so as to see forthemselves the nature of the articles therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of theinvention to provide a package which will avoid the above drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to proatcnt O ICC vide apackage which will indicate from its exterior appearance the distinctiveinner surface of envelopes within the package, even though theseenvelopes cannot be seen, at least at their inner surfaces, from theexterior of the package.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide an indicationof the distinctive inner surface of the envelopes in the package with astructure which serves additional functions.

Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide an indication of thedistinctive inner surface of envelopes within a package with a structurewhich in any event will be used in the package, so that additionalstructure simply for the purpose of indicating the distinctive innersurface of the envelopes is not required.

According to the invention the package includes a container in which astack of sheet-material articles such as greeting cards and envelopes islocated. The envelopes have a distinctive inner surface which is notvisible from the exterior of the package. The container of the packagecarries a tab means which coacts with a stack of sheetmaterial articlesin the container for releasably retaining them within the container.This tab means has an exterior surface portion which matches and has thesame distinctive appearance as the interior of the envelopes, so thatsimply by looking at this exterior portion of the tab means thedistinctive appearance of the interior of the envelopes will be knownwithout requiring any envelope to be removed from the package.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part beobvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope ofthe invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a fuller understanding of theinvention, reference is had to the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly broken-away perspective illustration of a package ofthe invention shown in an upstanding position;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section of the package of FIG. 1 taken along line2-2 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows and schematicallyindicating the interior space occupied by the stacked articles;

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2 in thedirection of the arrows and also indicating only schematically the spaceoccupied by the stacked articles;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a blank from which a tab means of theinvention is made;

FIG. 5 is a perspective exploded view of the package of the inventionindicating how the tab means coacts with a container of the package; and

FIG. 6 shows in a partly broken-away elevation an envelope particularlyat the region where its distinctive inner surface is located.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, thereis shown in FIG. 1 a package 10 of the invention. This package 10includes a container 12 made of any suitable sheet material such ascardboard. The container 12 has a rear or bottom wall 14 and side walls16, 18, 20, and 22 connected to each other to form corners, as indicatedin FIG. 1, with these side walls extending from the rear or bottom wall14. The container 12 is of a generally rectangular configuration withthe opposed parallel side walls 16 and 18 being longer than the opposedparallel side walls 20 and 22. The container may be set up in a displayposition as shown in FIG. 1 where the side wall 18 rests on a suitablesupporting surface, or when shipped, for example, the wall 14 may formthe lowermost part of the container. The container is open opposite toits wall 14 so that the edges of the walls 16, 18, 20 and 22 define acontainer opening through which free access may be had to the interiorof the container 12.

This container 12 of the package 10 is adapted to accommodate in itsinterior a stack of sheet-material articles such as a series of greetingcards 24 situated one next to the other and a series of envelopes 26arranged in the stack behind the greeting cards 24.

A tab means 28 is carried by the container 12 for re leasably retainingthe stack of sheet-material articles 24, 26 within the container 12.This tab means 28 has an elongated tubular portion 30 filling the spacebetween the wall 18 and the stack of articles 24, 26, so that the wall18 extends along the elongated portion 30 of the tab means 28 while thetab means 28 itself extends along one side of the stack 24, 26. This tabmeans 28 includes a projecting portion 32 projecting from the elongatedportion 30 to a location overlying the stack 24, 26 so as to releasablyretain the stack within the container 12. If desired a suitabletransparent cover, made of a clear plastic, may be removably situatedover the opening defined by the edges of the side walls distant from thewall 14.

The tab means 28 has a wall 34 forming the exterior visible part of theelongated portion 30, and this wall 34 is connected by a fold line 36 toa wall 38 which extends along the stack. The projecting portion 32 iscut from the wall 38, and the projecting portion 32 extends from and issituated in the same plane as the wall 34, so that in this way the wall38 is left with the opening 40 visible in FIG. 3. The entire tab means28 may be made of sheet material which may be the same as that used forthe container 12, and the elongated tubular portion 30 has a rectangularcross section, as is apparent from FIG. 2 in particular. FIG. 2schematically indicates the space above the elongated portion 30 overthe wall 38 thereof which is occupied by the stack of greeting cards andenvelopes.

The tab means 28 is formed from a one-piece sheetmaterial blank shown inFIG. 4. This sheet-material blank is provided with the fold lines 36,44, 46, 48, and 50. The part of the blank shown in FIG. 4 above the foldline 36 is formed with a slit 51 passing therethrough and having theconfiguration indicated in FIG. 4, so that when the wall portions 38 and34 are folded at the fold line 36, the tab projecting portion 32 willremain in the plane of the wall portion 34 while the folded wall 38 willhave the opening 40 indicated in FIG. 3. The blank includes a wall 52between the fold lines 44 and 46 and folded at the fold line 44 withrespect to the Wall 34 so as to extend parallel to the wall 38. Betweenthe fold lines 46 and 48, the blank has a wall portion 54 which becomessituated parallel to and located opposite the wall 34 when the wall 54is folded at right angles to the wall 52 along the fold line 46. Thewall 56 is folded at the fold line 48 so as to extend along and engagethe inner surface of the wall 38, and it will be noted that part of thewall 56 is visible in FIG. 3 through the opening 40. Finally the wall'58 is folded with respect to the wall 56 along the fold line '50 andextends along and engages the inner surface of the wall 34. Thus, theouter wall 34 which is visible at the exterior of the package and thewall 38 which directly engages the stack are respectively reinforced bythe walls 58 and 56. These walls 56 and 58 may, for example, beadhesively connected to the inner surfaces of the walls 38 and 34, sothat the elongated portion 30 of the tab means 28 will have the hollowtubular construction of rectangular cross section clearly apparent fromFIGS. 1, 2, and 5.

As may be seen from FIG. 5, the tab means 28 need only be inserted intothe container 12 in the direction of the arrows. With a stack ofsheet-material articles within the container next to the wall 16thereof, and with the Wall 14 in a horizontal position at the lowermostpart of the container, it is a simple manner to introduce the tab means28 downwardly with respect to the container 12 so that the tab 32 willoverlie the stack of articles, and then when the container is set up fordisplay purposes, where the wall 18 will be in a horizontal positionresting on a suitable horizontal supporting surface, the projectingportion 32 of the tab means will releasably retain the stack of articleswithin the container and these articles will simply rest on the wall 38as result of the filling of the space between the wall 18 and the stackby the elongated portion 30 of the tab means.

In the case where the stack of sheet-material articles includes greetingcards 24 and envelopes 26, these envelopes 26 will conventionally havean inner distinctive surface 60 shown most clearly in FIG. 6. Thus, thisinner distinctive surface 60 may take the form of a predetermineddecorative pattern having a given color or combination of colors. In theillustrated example the inner surface 60 is in the form of a stripedpattern having stripes of one color alternating with stripes of anothercolor. As is apparent particularly from FIG. 1, the envelopes 26 are notapparent at the exterior surface of the package, and even if they were,the closed envelope flaps 62 would necessary prevent the innerdistinctive surfaces 60 from being visible. Therefore, a prospectivepurchaser would have no way of knowing the appearance of the innersurface 60. The result is that such a prospective purchaser would seekto remove an envelope from the package so as to open the envelope andviewthe inner surface thereof.

In order to avoid this latter undesirable procedure, the tab means 28has an exterior distinctive surface portion 64 (FIG. 1) which matchesthe distinctive inner surfaces 60 of the envelopes. Moreover, theprojecting portion 32 of the tab means is given a configuration whichenables the projecting portion 32 to simulate part of an envelopeillustrated at the exterior visible surface of the tab means assimulating the envelope when viewed from the rear with its flap open, sothat the distinctive inner surface of the envelope is visible. Thus, byproviding the exterior surface portion 64 which matches the innersurface 60 of the envelopes, a prospective purchaser will immediatelyperceive upon viewing the tab means of the invention the nature of thedistinctive inner surface 60 of the envelopes. It thus becomesunnecessary to remove an envelope from the package, and a prospectivepurchaser will immediately know the appearance of the inner surfaces ofthe envelopes.

It will be noted that no special structure is required for this purpose.The tab means 28 is required in any event for releasably retaining thestack in the package, and simply by providing the tab means with asimulation of the envelopes within the package, it is possible toeliminate the requirement of removing an envelope from the package priorto purchase thereof.

It is to be noted that the projecting portion 32 of the tab means 28 issituated between and at a substantial distance from the opposed ends ofthe elongated portion 30 of the tab means, so that the single projectingportion 32 can effectively retain the stack within the package both whenthe package 10 is in a horizontal position with the wall 14 forming abottom wall thereof or in a vertical display position, as shown in FIG.1, where the wall 14 forms a rear wall for the package.

Thus, the packages of the invention are initially manufactured with thetab means 28 of various packages having different distinctive exteriorsurface portions 64. When the -sheet-material articles are packed intothe package to form a stack therein, care is taken to have theparticular distinctive surface portions 64 of the tab means match theparticular distinctive surface portion 60 of the articles in the stack.Of course, the exterior surface of the Wall 34 beyond the portionthereof which simulates an envelope .may have any desired printed matterlocated thereon.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those madeapparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and,since certain changes may be made in the above constructions withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intendedthat all matter contained in the above description or shown in theaccompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In a package for sheet-material articles such as greeting cards andenvelopes, wherein the articles are arranged in a stack with theenvelopes having distinctive inner surfaces which cannot be seen fromthe exterior of the package, a container for the stack of sheet-materialarticles, and tab means carried by the container and extending over astack of sheet-material articles therein for retaining the stackreleasably within the container, said tab means having a visibledistinctive exterior surface portion matching the distinctive innersurfaces of the envelopes, so that without removing an envelope from thepackage the distinctive inner surface thereof Will be apparent from thetab means.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said tab means has anelongated portion situated in the interior of the container to extendalong one side of a stack of sheet-material articles therein, and saidtab means having a projecting portion projecting from said elongatedportion to a location overlying a stack of articles in the container,said portion of said tab means which overlies the stack having aconfiguration simulating at least part of an envelope.

3. The combination of claim 2 and wherein the part of the envelopesimulated by said projecting portion of said tab means includes at leastpart of an envelope flap in an open position as seen from the back ofthe envelope vto indicate the inner surface thereof.

4. The combination of claim 3 and wherein the simulation of an envelopeextends from said portion of said tab means which overlies the stackonto said elongated portion of said tab means which extends alongsidethe stack.

5. The combination of claim 2 and wherein said tab means includes anelongated tubular sheet-material member forming the elongated portion ofthe tab means with the projecting portion thereof cut from one wall ofthe tubular member and projecting from another wall thereof, said wallsof said tubular member being interconnected by a fold line thereof.

6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein said container has a side wallextending along said tubular portion of said tab means with the tubularportion filling the space between said side wall of said container andthe stack.

7. The combination of claim 6 and wherein said tubular portion of saidtab means has a rectangular cross section and includes a top Wall fromwhich said projecting portion of said means extends away from said sidewall of said container into said location overlying said stack.

8. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said elongated tubular portionof said tab means has a pair of opposed ends between which saidprojecting portion of said tab means is located.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1947 Hansom 312 XR 12/1929Goodbar 229-68

